Grassroots Exchange Fund Application Guidelines

Grassroots Exchange Fund Application Guidelines

Common Counsel Foundation

Grassroots Exchange Fund Application Guidelines

Mission and Background

Common Counsel's Grassroots Exchange Fund (GXF) is a discretionary small grants program designed to support networking and collaboration between grassroots social change organizations throughout the United States. GXF prioritizes grants to small community-based groups seeking to meet face-to-face with other grassroots organizations, to build collaborative campaigns, and to benefit from organizing training and technical assistance opportunities. The program strives to meet three central goals:

  • To strengthen the ability of community organizations to participate in public debates;
  • To strengthen key cross-region and cross-sector movements; and
  • To contribute to collaborative policy victories in the realms of social, economic, and environmental justice.

Eligibility

The first step in applying to the Grassroots Exchange Fund (GXF) is to thoroughly review the grantmaking criteria and priorities section below in order to ensure that your organization is a good fit for the GXF grant program (this will save both your time and ours). Organizations that meet the eligibility and funding criteria are encouraged to submit the GXF Application Form.

Timeline

Grassroots Exchange Fund (GXF) grants are distributed on a monthly cycle February through November. Applications must be submitted by the first Monday of the month (February-November). Turn around time for requests to be processed and reviewed by our grants committee is approximately four weeks from the deadline, so please plan ahead and apply more than a month ahead of your exchange opportunity.

Grantmaking Criteria and Priorities

The Fund typically makes grants to grassroots community-based organizations working on social, racial, economic, and environmental justice initiatives that give voice to the needs of low-income people, women, youth, and people of color. Organizations are only eligible for one GXF grant annually.

A typical GXF grant is $1,000. However, for rare and especially strategic opportunities, we will consider a request up to $5,000.

Priority is given to:

  • Organizations that most clearly demonstrate a membership-led community-organizing model that is working toward social, racial, economic or environmental policy change.
  • Organizations based in and organizing in low- or moderate-income communities.
  • Organizations that operate with a clear racial justice and intersectional framework.
  • Organizations that have a strong group of leaders and board members that represent the community they serve and who are accountable to the community.
  • Organizations that have strong leadership development programs for their members.
  • Organizations that have a concrete plan to grow and to build more power by getting more people involved.
  • Organizations that organize collective action of members to bring concerns to public officials and other decision-makers.
  • Organizations that can demonstrate alliances with base-building organizations.
  • Proposed exchanges or events that promote strategy development and skills transfer between organizations and leaders.
  • Organizations working in “hard to fund” areas, including the southern US, the “rust belt” and Rocky Mountain States.
  • Current or recent grant recipients of other Common Counsel member funds or the Akonadi Foundation.
  • Small organizations that do not have access to large government, corporate or private funding sources, and for whom a small grant from GXF would make a significant impact.
  • Applicants that have not received recent GXF funding (grants are typically not awarded for more than three consecutive years).
  • Organizations that have IRS 501(c)3 tax exempt status or a fiscal sponsor who does.

We will accept applications from groups that are not previous recipients of other Common Counsel funds, from organizations based in other parts of the United States, and from organizations that have received GXF funding for two or more years, but we will give preference to applications that meet the priority areas above.

Exclusions

GXF generally does not fund the following:

  • Organizations located outside of the United States;
  • Direct social services;
  • Government agencies and programs;
  • Capital expenditure, endowments, construction or renovation programs;
  • Scholarship funds or other aid to individuals;
  • Schools and educational institutions, cultural institutions, or medical institutions;
  • Film, video, publications or other media projects;
  • Grantmaking institutions;
  • Research or fellowships.

How to Apply to GXF

If your organization fits all or most of the above eligibility criteria, then you may submit a GXF Grant Application Form to the Common Counsel Foundation.

  1. Fill out GXF Application Form below and include all requested information. This form is required for all applicants and asks some basic questions about your organization, your exchange opportunity, your membership, and budget information.
  1. Submit your GXF Application Form with attachments via email and ensure that we receive it on or before the monthly deadline. Email to (please type "GXF" with the name of your organization in the Subject line – for example: “GXF from Community Action Organization”).

Reporting

Upon completion of the exchange, Common Counsel requires that grantees submit a brief (1-2 page) letter, report, or evaluation of the funded activity 90 days after the event or activity. We will not consider renewal requests in future years until we receive a final report.

Common Counsel Foundation

Grassroots Exchange Fund Application Form

Organization name:

Contact Person and Title:

Street Address:

City: State: Zip:

Phone: Fax: E-mail: Website:

Name of gathering orevent:

Gathering/eventdate(s):

Grant funds requested: $

Organizational budget: $ Budget for the exchange/event: $

Employer Identification Number:

You must be a 501c3 non-profit organization or have a fiscal agent with 501c3 tax status

Fiscal Sponsor (if applicable):

Have you received prior funding from Common Counsel Foundation member funds? __Yes __No

(Member funds include the Abelard Foundation, Acorn Foundation, Penney Family Fund, Victor &Lorraine Honig Fund, the Social & Economic Justice Fund & the Grassroots Exchange Fund.)

  1. Purpose of the Exchange or Event: Describe the skills or information sought from the proposed exchange/ event, the urgency of your request, and how information from the exchange will inform your organization’s goals and campaigns. If the purpose will foster your racial equity or policy goals, please include a sentence describing how (400 words max).
  1. Organization’s Mission Statement:
  1. Membership Demographic. In four or five sentences, please provide a broad overview (not a statistical breakdown) of your member base. We are interested in how your active membership reflects the demographic of the community you serve (in terms of income levels, ethnicity, and/or any other factors which you deem relevant to your work). Include the number of active or dues-paying members. Please describe how your organization plans to increase its base of low- and middle-income members who take leadership on local and regional issues toward racial, social, economic or environmental change.
  1. Names of those people who will participate in the exchange and their roles within the organization.
  1. A budget for the exchange, including a list of potential funding sources:

Attachments

  • Please attach a current annual budget for the applying organization.
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